Description

This cookbook provides the fileutils resource. The resource can be used to set attributes on all of the files in a directory and subdirectory. We've had years of people complaining that the directory recursive mode, which is in fact a parent operation, does not work on subdirectories and files. In this cookbook recursive refers to subdirectories and the files contained inside them.

Requirements

Developed for RHEL and Solaris servers.

Resource Parameters

The fileutils resource will accept two actions. :change is used to modify ownership and permission mode bit settings. :delete is used to remove files and directories. :delete always functions in a recursive mode.

Action	Parameter	Use
:change	path	Specify the starting path or file. The path must exist for anything to be done.
	owner	Set the owner of the files and directories to this value.
	group	Set the group of the files and directories to this value.
	file_mode	Set the permission mode for files. Specify octal numbers or mode change symbols
	directory_mode	Set the permission mode for directories. Specify octal numbers or mode change symbols
	recursive	Boolean. Use top down traversal from the starting path. Default is true. When recursive is false only the initial directory and contents are changed.
	only_files	Boolean. Only change files. Default is false.
	only_directories	Boolean. Only change directories. Default is false.
	pattern	Regex. Match to filter the basename of files and directories.
	follow_symlink	Boolean. Continue on past symlinks. Serious footgun capacity. Default is false.
	quiet	Boolean. Supress output for changing each file. Default is false.

Action	Parameter	Use
:delete	path	Specify the starting path or file.
	recursive	Delete always functions in recursive mode.
	only_files	Boolean. Only delete files. Default is false.
	pattern	Regex. Match to filter the basename of files and directories.
	follow_symlink	Boolean. Continue on past symlinks. Serious footgun capacity!
	force	Boolean. Use the for option with FileUtils.
	quiet	Boolean. Supress output for deleting each file. Default is false.

Mode bit settings.

You may specify the mode as a numeric value.

0o600, 0600, '0600' and 420 will all create the same numeric setting. Note that '600' is treated as decimal 600 and is not the same as '0600' which is treated as octal 600.

You may use symbolic settings. Pick from the who list and add or subtract access permissions. The code tries to mimic the chmod command.

Who

u Owning user
g Owning group
o Others
a Everyone

Permissions

r Read
w Write
x Search/execute
s Assign user
t Sticky bit

Examples.

'+r' Adds read permissions to all files
'g+r' Adds read permissions for the group to all files
'o-w' Removes write permissions for other from all files

Usage

A good example of why you would use the fileutils resource would be setting attributes on files and directories after dir and file have created things. Notice that fileutils and dir treat recursive as moving in opposite directions.

# Create some directories
dir '/export/home/my/stuff/deep' do
  recursive true  # creates parents
end

# Set the owner on multiple directories
fileutils '/export/home/my' do # Set the child nodes
  owner 'my'
end

# Empty a directory
fileutils '/export/home/my' do
  action :delete
end

# Set mode attributes
fileutils '/export/home/my' do # Set the child nodes
  file_mode ['o+r', 'g+w'] 
  directory_mode ['o+rx', 'g+wrx'] 
end

# Change only the top level directory and it's files
# should not change .../stuff/**
fileutils '/export/home/my' do
  recursive false
  files_only true
  file_mode ['0700']
end

Author

Mark Gibbons

Acknowlegments

Seth Vargo - Vender gem technique https://sethvargo.com/using-gems-with-chef/
Samuel Gay - Walk gem https://github.com/samonzeweb/walk

MarkGibbons/fileutils